


Insomnia

by Tierfal



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-02
Updated: 2012-04-02
Packaged: 2017-11-02 22:58:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/374299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tierfal/pseuds/Tierfal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy and Ed find some common ground at two in the morning.</p><p>[Compatible with either 'verse.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Insomnia

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure Al is trying to set them up, but that's because secretly-evil!Al is my religion. You are welcome to believe whatever you prefer. XD

One good thing about Central is that people play by the rules. As far as the larger picture is concerned, that means that the bulk of its soldiers do what they’re told and stay out of the way. As far as the smaller one, it means that Roy doesn’t have to worry about running into anyone when he hits the showers well into an all-nighter.

He considered working in the nude—the novelty! the liberty! the opportunities for diversion!—but unfortunately, another marked difference between Eastern Command and Central is that the air-conditioning actually works here. The vent above Roy’s head is lovely when the midday sun pours through the windows and sears his back, but right now he resents it mightily for quashing such an excellent plan.

Well, he does until the door bangs open at ten minutes after two, and Fullmetal stalks in, a piece of paper crumpled in his automail fist.

“Hey, Colonel,” he says, and then he promptly goes over and starts rummaging through the files Roy’s team left on the table.

“What in the hell are you doing up?” Roy asks. “And what in the hell are you doing _here_?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Ed says. “It’s been pretty bad lately, so tonight Al made me a scavenger hunt. Basically, he gets a half-hour head-start to go around leaving clues, and if I catch up before sunrise, I win.” He scowls, sorting through Havoc’s coffee-ring-stamped notes, and spares Roy a glance. Somewhat showily, he waves the crushed article he’d set aside. “The last one said ‘the salamander’s den.’ I figured that’s either here or your house, and I damn well wouldn’t go there if you paid me, so here I am.”

Roy thinks they both know that Edward would get elbow-deep in his underwear drawer to win a hundred-cen bet, but he’s too tired to articulate that as a one-liner and follow through with the requisite shouting match.

“I see,” he says instead. He pauses. “Alphonse must have stopped by very recently, then; I wasn’t out long.”

Edward mutters something noncommittal and starts opening cabinets.

Roy pauses again, and then he lifts his desk blotter.

Aha. “Does a drawing of a bag of sweets mean anything to you?”

Edward looks up sharply and then trots over to snatch the scrap of paper and peer at it closely. “Crap. Those are the specialty cinnamon sticks I burned my mouth on—which is why they’re steaming, see? That place is all the way across town.”

Roy can’t help frowning. He wrestles briefly with the inevitable, mostly to prove to it that he knows its game. “It’s not safe for you to be out this late alone.” He stands and bats a wrinkle out of his shirt. “I’m coming with you.” Edward opens his mouth, but Roy’s faster: “If we take my car, we can make up a lot of time.”

Edward eyes him for a long moment. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Yes,” Roy says. “Don’t you have sleep to get?”

Edward considers, folds the drawing, shoves it in his pocket, and starts for the door. “You’d better drive fast.”

Roy grins. “I think you’re going to regret saying that.”


End file.
